DRAM memory, since its inception, has been the most commonly used chip in the semiconductor industry, in 1970, after Intel invented the DRAM chip, this market, has long occupied a pivotal position in the semiconductor market.

No matter what type of computer it is, including supercomputers, minicomputers, personal computers, handhelds, home game consoles, arcade machines, ...... DRAM is basically required!

In a sense, DRAM is equivalent to the staple food of the semiconductor hardware industry!

Many electronic products don't even need a CPU, but they still need DRAM!

The DRAM market has long been even larger than the CPU market.

In the 70s, there were at least hundreds of semiconductor companies engaged in the development and production of DRAM memory. Once, at its peak, DRAM accounted for more than 80% of the semiconductor chip market!

Including Intel Corporation, in the 70s, the main business was memory chips, and CPU chips were just Intel's sideline.

Even after the 21st century, the proportion of DRAM in the semiconductor market has declined, but it still accounts for one-third of the semiconductor chip market!

However, because the technical threshold of DRAM memory particles is not too high, it is mainly a barrier, mainly the process and processing cost of the chip factory. Whoever can supply DRAM chips to the market at a lower price will win the market.

The price war has become the key to success in the DRAM market, and the market has been repeating. In the early 80s, it was Japanese manufacturers who sold DRAM at lower prices, which led to the collapse of the semiconductor industry in the United States, and it had to abandon these relatively low-end chip markets.

Manufacturers such as Intel regard cutting the memory chip business such as DRAM and focusing on the CPU business as a great turnaround.

If it hadn't decisively abandoned the memory business and focused on the more technical CPU business, Intel could have become one of the hundreds of semiconductor companies that collapsed in the United States in the 80s.

Since the beginning of the 90s, Japan has reduced government guidance and subsidies for industry due to currency appreciation and political pressure from the United States. As a result, Japanese companies that were sharp in the global market in the 60s~80s gradually dimmed in the 90s.

In the international market, South Korea, which has been playing a similar role in replacing Japanese products, has been playing out. In particular, South Korea's Samsung entered the semiconductor industry in the 80s, and in the 90s, it staged a semiconductor industry that surpassed Japan. After the 21st century, Samsung's business in LCD panels, memory particles, flash memory particles, ARM chips, sensors, SOC, etc., is ubiquitous and omnipresent.

In every field, perhaps Samsung is not the first to enter, the early days are far behind the opponent, but it is perseverance to catch up, and when the opponent is exhausted, Samsung is sprinting suddenly, leaving the strongest competitor in the industry far behind.

Samsung's market share has been soaring, and the tried and tested trick is the "counter-cyclical law".

Normal industry competition generally follows the law of industry cycles, that is, expanding production capacity in times of prosperity and reducing production capacity in recessions.

However, as far as Samsung is concerned, it expands its production capacity when the whole industry is oversupplied, and when the industry is booming, it is relatively conservative, raising prices to increase profits, and accumulating strength to start actively expanding during the next industry depression.

The reason why Samsung likes to expand against the trend is that on the one hand, competitors laid off a lot of employees during the depression, making it easier for professionals to be professional. In addition, after expanding production capacity by relying on capital advantages, weaker opponents will gradually fall behind or even be forced to withdraw from the industry due to lack of funds. When the recession of the industry is over, the next round of business cycle, the market has been monopolized by Samsung, and you can get as much profit as you want.

Samsung's counter-cyclical strategy is the skill of Lee Kun-hee, the current chairman of Samsung Group.

Strictly speaking, the distinctive strategy of the Lee Kun-hee period was expansion under the counter-cyclical law model. Its semiconductor, LCD panel and other industries are relying on the counter-cyclical law, and the recession period expanded against the trend, so as to gradually overtake and become the overlord of the industry from an insignificant latecomer in the industry.

In the early 80s, Samsung had just entered the DRAM industry, and neither technology nor production costs occupied any advantages, and even Samsung Group's own departments were not necessarily willing to use Samsung Semiconductor's products. However, in 1984, the DRAM industry once encountered overcapacity, and the global DRAM price continued to drop. 64K DRAM was reduced from $4 per piece at the beginning of '84 to $0.3 per piece. Samsung's semiconductor production cost is as high as $1.3 per piece, and each piece of DRAM costs $1. In the face of such a market, a large number of semiconductor companies in the United States began to go bankrupt and withdraw, and even the Japanese semiconductor industry, which has an advantage, has stopped its expansion. However, under the unfavorable market of $1.3 per chip cost and $0.3 market price, Samsung has invested more money to expand production capacity and develop DRAM with greater capacity.

In 87, the Japanese government and the U.S. government signed a relevant agreement to take the initiative to restrict the production of chips in Japan. South Korea's Samsung has tasted the sweetness, DRAM prices continue to rise, Samsung Semiconductor's profits have grown rapidly, and the chip factories that have invested against the trend in the past few years have gradually entered the profit cycle.

It is precisely for this reason that before the death of Samsung's chairman Lee Byung-cheol in '87, he chose his third son, Lee Kun-hee, as the heir, breaking the conventional law of primogeniture in Asian family businesses. Because, among his sons, only Lee Kun-hee has the most business talent and vision.

In addition, the investment in the semiconductor industry is also the responsibility of Lee Kun-hee, and in 87 it was the period when the layout of the semiconductor industry began to bear fruit.

By the early 90s, Samsung Semiconductor was already one of the top ten semiconductor companies in the world, and the market share of DRAM memory was already the first.

……

Late April 1994.

Korea.

Samsung Group Headquarters.

Lee Kun-hee, the current head of Samsung, is discussing a countercyclical expansion plan for the semiconductor market with his subordinates.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Samsung Semiconductor has been among the world's top ten semiconductor giants since the mass production of the first 64KB memory chip in 83 years, and now it is one of the top ten semiconductor giants in the world. At the beginning, we lost money on 64KB memory chips, and continued to lose more than $100 million, and we couldn't make a profit for three years. But with our persistence, we finally achieved the current annual revenue of more than 2 billion US dollars, and the annual net profit is not less than 100 million US dollars. Li Kunxi said in a deep voice, "Before, our chips were mainly supplied to PCs, game consoles and some niche markets. The Pangu computer market is not open to us. But...... With the increasing openness of Pangu computer technology standards, even if the finished memory module is not compatible with the interface of the PC market, there is not much difference between the memory particles themselves...... Memory module manufacturers, using our chips, can also encapsulate the memory modules used on the Pangu platform, so this is a big opportunity for us...... The DRAM market is still expanding, and the DRAM market itself is now approaching $30 billion a year. If we can get half of the market share of the DRAM market, our Samsung Group's international status and revenue level will inevitably reach a new level. In order to expand market share, price wars and even loss-making sales are strategic needs. ”

At present, Samsung Semiconductor's main chip products are mainly DRAM memory particles, and its main products are memory particles with a capacity of 512KB~4MB. Mass-produced memory modules are mainly products between 2MB~16MB.

At present, Samsung Semiconductor's most profitable product is actually an 8MB memory module, and the current production cost is less than $50 a piece, but the market price is more than $100. At the beginning of the year, it was even $200 a piece.

Of course, this is the market price of 8MB of memory on the PC platform, and the price of the memory module is only half the price of the memory module on the PC platform for the Pangu platform. 8MB memory sticks, which can be sold for $100 in the PC assembly machine market. But in the Pangu compatible market, the normal price is $50 a piece.

Of course, at a price of $50 a piece, Samsung's memory modules are not attractive at all. After all, the current 8MB memory module is mainly the old platform of Pangu 4~7 generations, and it will be selected only when upgrading. As for the new platform, Pangu 8th generation will not consider 8MB memory sticks at all, because, Pangu 8th generation is filled with 4 16MB memory sticks from the factory.

The old platform is conservatively estimated to have 2~300 million existing users, and they are reluctant to replace the whole machine for the time being, but choose to upgrade the hardware and continue to fight for a few years. This stock market also leads to huge opportunities in the DIY accessories market.

In the past, Pangu computers were self-produced and sold, and when the technology was not opened, Samsung had no way to enter this market. However, now that Pangu has opened up its technical standards, the technical standards of other products are open except for CPUs and operating systems, so Samsung's DRAM can also enter the market with the help of open standards.

It's one thing for Lin Qi to not welcome Samsung in his heart, but he can't specifically formulate a policy for Samsung not to produce memory modules and memory particles for the Pangu platform. If this is done, it will seriously damage the reputation of Xinchuang Electronics Group, and affect the trust and confidence of many software and hardware manufacturers in the Pangu camp in the Pangu platform.

At present, even if he doesn't like Samsung, Lin Qi will not formulate the rules that Samsung is not allowed to enter, and will only compete with Samsung under the rules of the market.

Of course, not only the DRAM competition of the Pangu platform, but also the comprehensive competition of mobile phones, servers, PCs and any other market that requires DRAM chips.

Samsung is now eyeing the memory particle market of the Pangu platform, while Lin Qi is eyeing the entire DRAM market......

https:

Genius one second to remember the address of this site:. Mobile version reading URL: m.